NACC seeks to seize Somsak's undeclared Bt16m house
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FORMER MINISTER DECLARED 'UNUSUALLY WEALTHY'; CLAIMS VOTE NOT UNANIMOUS
THE ANTI-GRAFT agency has resolved to seek a Supreme Court ruling allowing it to seize a Bt16-million house owned by former education minister Somsak Prissananantakul that he failed to report when submitting his financial statements.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) concluded that Somsak was unusually rich and that public prosecutors should take the case to the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions so that this asset is seized.
NACC secretary-general Sansern Poljieak said yesterday that the commission resolved in a majority vote of 6-3 to declare Somsak unusually wealthy.
The politician allegedly built this house in Angthong’s Wiset Chai Chan district and chose not to declare it as an asset while he was in office.
Somsak is a key figure in the Chart Thai Pattana Party.
Long-term building
Construction of the house in Phai Jamsin sub-district began in 1998, when Somsak was deputy education minister, and was concluded when he became education minister in 2011.
Sansern added that the former minister had so far failed to convince the NACC that this property was acquired honestly.
The anti-graft panel has asked the Office of the Attorney General to submit a petition with the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions seeking to have the property seized, he said.
In a related development, NACC deputy secretary-general Worawit Sukbun said Somsak’s case was a civilian one, hence the punishment would not include imprisonment.
Meanwhile, Somsak yesterday cancelled a press conference he had scheduled for Monday to explain this issue, noting that the NACC’s decision had not been unanimous.
“As a politician of a democratic society, I respect the commission’s votes for or against the decision [to have the house seized]. However, the process has not ended yet and will continue in court,” he said.
In 2011, the anti-graft panel resolved the case by declaring that Somsak had concealed the Bt16-million house and some savings held by himself and his wife when declaring his assets.
Under both the 2007 Constitution abolished by the junta and the new draft charter, persons declared by a court to be “unusually wealthy” are prohibited from contesting an election.
